|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
review by Brian Voerding I live in Minnesota. I suffer through Minnesota winters, which are long, dark, and often feature sub-zero temperatures. That said, and while consciously avoiding the stigma of cultural relativity, I can hardly begin to imagine the intensity of the same cold season in Russia. Polished Surface of a Table sounds like this, a lonely winter in a dreary basement, men weary and bright-eyed from the cold. The record, a near-continuous electroacoustic soundscape, is the work of Alexei Borisov with production assistance from Russia-based Electroshock Records founder and acclaimed avant-garde composer Artemiy Artemiev. As most electroacoustic recordings are, ...Table is a conceptual work. On one level, it is a revolving camera focusing on common room objects, zooming from birds-eye view to dense magnification, converting sight to sound through the subjective filter of Borisov's imagination. On other levels, it is an exploration of the sounds of lives passing by the room, anxious voices heard through open windows, hurried footsteps on cracked concrete sidewalks. Borisov thrives off improvisation on a microcosmic scale, spending lavish amounts of time exploring timbre and pitch, constructing sound on sound. He works well contrasting thick, multi-layered sections with spacious interludes, using dynamics not as a function of volume swell, but rather of the sound saturation achieved by stacking parts on top of one another. Sounds pitched at the top of the sound spectrum ring against deep, sweeping drones provide additional contrast. Many of the thirteen compositions invoke morphed sounds modified into rhythmic structures, carefully-constructed repetition that brings a sense of unity to the record. Borisov is also in strong command of electronic music composition staples, using panning, resonance, filter cut-offs, loops and others to create a sense of theme and variations on multiple sound sources. There is a cold, often mechanical feel here, invoking images of ritualistic-driven industry. Nothing seems to be done without intention, adding to the unrushed, calculated feel. ...Table opens with "Revlon", a composition littered with oscillating, resonant squelches and warbled voices, resembling a blustery cityscape, with distant melodies echoing from basement barrooms in the brief hours before sunrise. It meanders through the noise-driven chaos of "Old and Metallic", and the detuned, sing-song, wavering "Dense Drift" and "Blue Vinyl", before resting on a percussive loop and multiple modified voices bouncing across channels in "After the Prime Time". There are images of a neglected radio left on all night, community programming replaced by static at sign-off time and no one around to silence the white noise. Borisov betrays his ear for haunting melody with the prepared voice and swimming strings on "Dew", a halfway mark for the record, as it progresses into the second half with a gradually increasing frenetic sense. Like other recordings on the Electroshock label, Borisov's Polished Surface of a Table is a well-constructed, carefully-prepared offering that speaks volumes to the quality of the label's catalogue. Though Borisov's compositions may not yet seem fully realized, they bear great potential. Add to this the fact that Artemiev's name is stamped next to 'producer' on many of the releases, and it's easy to make the claim that this progressively-minded label can easily turn more than a few heads in the years to come. |
|